200 schools worse off in new scheme

More than 200 public schools in NSW, many in low socio-economic areas, will receive less funding next year under the new Gonski-inspired model, despite an overall $100 million boost to the sector and gains at most schools.

The principal Peter Ezzy of Plumpton High with students Christy Velasco who is in year 10 and her brother Joma who is in year 8. The school will receive one of the biggest increases in disadvantage loadings in 2014. Photo: Tamara Dean

Education Minister Adrian Piccoli announced the levels of funding every public school would receive in the form of additional ''equity loadings'' for socio-economic and indigenous disadvantage, two components of the new needs-based funding model.

An amount of $300 million will go towards funding these loadings in 2014, $100 million of which is new funding. ''For the first time ever, every Aboriginal student in NSW attracts funding, and we are tripling the number of disadvantaged students who also receive funding,'' Mr Piccoli said.

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Many schools will receive huge increases next year in the form of these loadings, including the western Sydney schools Plumpton High, which will receive an additional $605,529, Cranebrook, which will receive $620,725 and Chester Hill, $853,767.

Peter Ezzy, principal of Plumpton High School, said the additional funding would be of ''huge benefit'', and gave him certainty for the years ahead. ''We're not used to getting this sort of money, we're always used to trying to do the best we can on a limited budget,'' he said.

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But about 200 schools, many in low socio-economic areas and some that have received high levels of special program or equity funding this year, will receive slightly less in the form of loadings in 2014.

These include Mount Druitt Public School and Wiley Park Girls High School, which will each receive $50,000 less.

Department of Education and Communities director-general Michele Bruniges said the department had capped the maximum amount any school could lose at $50,000. ''As the money comes in, we know that the curve of Gonski funding increases, so depending on the data that we collect each year that funding shock won't be great in [2015] or [2016] as it was in [2014],'' she said.

The dip in these schools' funding comes despite former prime minister Julia Gillard's pledge that ''no school would lose a dollar'' under the new system.

Geoff Newcombe, executive director of the Association of Independent Schools NSW, said all schools in his sector had been guaranteed a 3 per cent increase on 2013 funding levels for next year.

Mr Piccoli said he was pleased with the new, fairer funding model.

''Julia Gillard made a political commitment at the time, it was not a commitment that I or anybody else in the NSW government made,'' he said.

Green MP John Kaye said the losses at some public schools were not acceptable, and ''the government should have realised there was a problem with their model'' when it meant some schools in low socio-economic areas would receive less.

Under the government's new Resource Allocation Model, schools will receive a base school allocation, plus equity loadings for disadvantaged students and targeted support for students - such as refugees - who require specific assistance.

Funding for students from low socio-economic backgrounds will be calculated using a new method called the Family Occupation and Education Index, which takes into account three measures relating to the child's parents - their highest level of school education, non-school qualifications and their occupation.

Federal opposition education spokeswoman Kate Ellis said she would closely examine the detail of the NSW arrangements.

"I look forward to seeing the additional funding from Labor’s hard fought education reforms flowing through to students and schools in NSW and will be closely studying the detail of the State Government’s announcement," she said.